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The Life of Muhammad
[VOLUME 1 Page 1] INTRODUCTION
In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate.
Abū Muḥammad al-Ḥasan b. ‛Alī b. (ibn, son of) Muḥammad al-Jawharī informed us of what Abū ‛Umar Muḥammad b. al-‛Abbās b. Muḥammad b. Zakariyya b. Ḥayawyh related to us, word for word. He said: It was read from the book of Abū l-Qāsim ‛Abd al-Wahhāb b. Abī Ḥayya, while I listened, and he confirmed it, on Saturday morning, in the house of Abū ‛Abdullah al-Warrāq, in the district of Shabīb, at the gate of al-Shām, by the Gate of Gold in the Alley of Balkh, in the month of Jamādā l-Ākhira in the year 318 AH. He said: Abū Abdullah Muḥammad b. Shujā‛al-Thaljī related to us saying: Muḥammad b. ‛Umar al-Wāqidī related to me that ‛Umar b. ‛Uthmān b. ‛Abd al-Raḥmān b. Sa‛īd b. Yarbū‛ al-Makhzūmī, Mūsā b. Muḥammad b. Ibrāhīm b. al-Ḥārith al-Taymī, Muḥammad b. ‛Abdullah b. Muslim, Mūsā b. Ya‛qūb b. ‛Abdullah b. Wahb b. Zama‛a, ‛Abdullah b. Ja ‛far b. ‛Abd al-Raḥmān b. al-Miswar b. Makhrama, Abū Bakr b. ‛Abdullah b. Muḥammad b. Abī Sabra, Sa‛īd b. ‛Uthmān b. ‛Abd al-Raḥmān b. ‛Abdullah al-Taymī, Yūnus b. Muḥammad al-Zafarī, ‛Ā’idh b. Yaḥyā, Muḥammad b. ‛Amr, Mu‛ādh b. Muḥammad al-Anṣārī, Yaḥyā b. ‛Abdullah b. Abī Qatāda, ‛Abd al-Raḥmān b. ‛Abd al-‛Azīz b. ‛Abdullah b. ‛Uthmān b. Ḥunayf, Ibn Abī Ḥabība, Muḥammad b. Yaḥyā b. Sahl b. Abī Ḥathma, ‛Abd al-Ḥamīd b. Ja ‛far, Muḥammad b. Sāliḥ b. Dīnār, ‛Abd al-Raḥmān b. Muḥammad b. Abī Bakr, Ya‛qūb b. Muḥammad b. Abī Ṣa‛ṣa‛a, ‛Abd al-Raḥmān b. Abī l-Zinād, Abū Ma‛shar, [Page 2] Mālik b. Abī l-Rijjāl, Ismā‛īl b. Ibrāhīm b. ‛Uqba, ‛Abd al-Ḥamīd b. ‛Imrān b. Abī Anas, and ‛Abd al-Ḥamīd b. Abī ‛Abs, all related to me about this in portions, and some of them were more reliable than others regarding their traditions. Others also related to me, and I wrote down all that was related to me.
They said: The Messenger of God, may peace be upon him, arrived in Medina on Monday, the twelfth of Rabī‛ al-Awwal—some say the second of Rabī‛ al-Awwal—but the twelfth is confirmed. The Messenger of God entrusted the first flag to Hamza b. ‛Abd al-Muṭṭalib, may God be satisfied with him, in the month of Ramaḍān, the seventh month after the emigration (hijra) of the Prophet from Mecca, to confront the caravan of the Quraysh. Then he awarded the flag to ‛Ubayda b. al-Ḥārith in the month of Shawwāl, eight months after the hijra (AH), to go to Rābigh, ten miles from Juḥfa on the way to Qudayd. The expedition (sariyya) led by Sa‛d b. Abī Waqqāṣ to al-Kharrār followed in Dhū l-Qa‛da, the ninth month AH. Then the Messenger of God marched (ghazā) in Ṣafar, the eleventh month AH, until he reached al-Abwā, and then returned. There was no fighting. He was gone for fifteen nights. The Prophet marched to Buwāṭ, which is close to Juḥfa, in Rabī‛al-Awwal, the thirteenth month AH, obstructed the caravan of the Quraysh, in which were Umayya b. Khalaf and a hundred men from the Quraysh with two thousand five hundred camels, and returned. There was no fighting. Next, seeking Kurz b. Jābir al-Fihrī, the Prophet marched in Rabī ‛al-Awwal, the thirteenth month AH, until he reached Badr, and returned. He raided again in Jamādā l-Ākhira, the sixteenth month AH—known as the raid of Dhū l-‛Ushayra—obstructing the caravans of the Quraysh as they began their journey to al-Shām, and returned. The Prophet sent ‛Abdullah b. Jaḥsh to Nakhla, in Rajab, the seventeenth month AH. Then he marched (ghazā) to the Battle of Badr on the morning of Friday, the seventeenth of Ramaḍān, the nineteenth month AH. The expedition (sariyya) to ‛Aṣmā bt (bint-daughter of) Marwān followed; she was killed by ‛Umayr b. ‛Adī [Page 3] b. Kharasha. ‛Abdullah b. al-Ḥārith b. al-Faḍl told me, from his father, that he said that Ibn Kharasha killed her five nights before the end of Ramaḍān, the nineteenth month AH.
The expedition (sariyya) of Sālim b. ‛Umayr to kill Abū ‛Afak took place in Shawwāl, the twentieth month AH. The raid of the Banū Qaynuqā‛ took place in the middle of Shawwāl. The Messenger of God marched to the raid of al-Sawīq in Dhū l-Hijja, the twenty-second month AH. He raided the Banū Sulaym at al-Kudr in al-Muḥarram, the twenty-third month AH. The expedition (sariyya) for the murder of Ibn al-Ashraf took place in Rabī‛ al-Awwal, the twenty-fifth month AH. The raid of the Ghatafān at Najd, in Dhū Amarr, followed in Rabī‛ al-Awwal, the twenty-fifth month AH. Then it was the expedition (sariyya) led by ‛Abdullah b. Unays to Sufyān b. Khālid b. Nubayḥ al-Hudhalī. ‛Abdullah said: “I went out from Medina on Monday, the fifth of Muḥarram, the thirty-fifth month AH. I was gone for eighteen nights and returned on Saturday, with seven days left to the month of Muḥarram.” The Prophet raided the Banū Sulaym at Buḥrān, in Jamādā l-Ūlā, the twenty-seventh month AH. The expedition to al-Qarada led by Zayd b. Ḥāritha followed in Jumādāl-Ākhira, the twenty-eighth month AH; Abū Sufyān b. Ḥarb was there.
The Prophet raided Uḥud in Shawwāl, the thirty-second month AH, and then Ḥamrā‛ al-Asad, also in Shawwāl. An expedition (sariyya) led by Abū Salamā b. ‛Abd al-Asad to Qaṭan against the Banū Asad took place in Muḥarram, the thirty-fifth month AH, and was followed by one to Bi’r Ma‛ūna led by [Page 4] al-Mundhir b. ‛Amr, in Ṣafar, the thirty-sixth month AH. The raid (ghazwa) of al-Rajī‛, commanded by Marthad, was also in Ṣafar. The Prophet raided the Banū Naḍīr in Rabī‛ al-Awwal, the thirty-seventh month AH. Then he marched for his appointment to Badr in Dhūl-Qa‛da, the forty-fifth month AH. The expedition led by Ibn ‛Atīk to Sallām b. Abī l-Ḥuqayq took place in Dhū l-Ḥijja. When Sallām b. Abī l-Ḥuqayq was killed, the Jews fled to Sallām b. Mishkam in Khaybar, but he refused to lead them. Usayr b. Zārim, however, supported their war. The Prophet raided Dhāt al-Riqā‛ in Muḥarram, the forty-seventh month AH, and then attacked Dūmat al-Jandal in Rabī‛ al-Awwal, the forty-ninth month AH.
The Prophet marched to al-Muraysī‛ in Sha‛bān in year five AH. In the same year he fought at al-Khandaq in Dhū l-Qa‛da, and raided the Banū Qurayẓa during some nights of Dhū l-Qa‛da and Dhū l-Ḥijja.
In the year six AH, in Muḥarram, Ibn Unays led an expedition to Sufyān b. Khālid b. Nubayḥ, and Muḥammad b. Maslama led another to al-Qurṭā’. The Prophet raided the Banū Liḥyān at al-Ghāba in Rabī‛ al-Awwal. In Rabī‛ al-Ākhir four expeditions (sariyya) were carried out: one was led by ‛Ukkāsha b. Miḥṣan to al-Ghamr, the second, by Muḥammad b. Maslama to Dhū l-Qaṣṣa, the third, by Abū ‛Ubayda b. al-Jarrāḥ to Dhū l-Qaṣṣa, [Page 5] and the fourth, by Zayd b. Ḥāritha against the Banū Sulaym at al-Jamūm (which lies between Baṭn Nakhl and al-Naqra). The last two raids took place in the same month. Zayd led an expedition to al-‛Īṣ in Jumādā l-Ūla, and then to al-Ṭaraf (which lies thirty-six miles from Medina) and Ḥismā (which lies behind Wādī al-Qurā) in Jamādā l-Ākhira. Zayd led another expedition to Wādī al-Qurā in Rajab. ‛Abd al-Raḥmān b. ‛Awf commanded a march to Dūmat al-Jandal in Sha‛bān. The raid [ghazwa] led by ‛Alī to Fadak followed in the same month. The raid led by Zayd b. Ḥāritha to Umm Qirfa (which lies beside Wādī al-Qurā) took place in Ramaḍān. The expedition led by Ibn Rawāḥa to Uṣayr b. Zārim, as well as that led by Kurz b. Jābir to al-‛Uraniyyīn followed in Shawwāl. In Dhūl-Qa‛da the Prophet traveled to perform the ‛Umrat al-Ḥudaybiyya.
In the year seven AH, the Prophet raided Khaybar in Jamādā l-Ūlā. He turned from Khaybar to Wādī al-Qurā in Jamādā l-Ākhira, and fought there. Then ‛Umar b. al-Khaṭṭāb led an expedition to Turba, which lies six nights from Mecca, in Sha‛bān. Abū Bakr b. Quḥāfa led an expedition to the Najd, and Bashīr b. Sa‛d led another to Fadak, also in Sha‛bān. The expedition led by Ghālib b. ‛Abdullah to Mayfa‛a (Mayfa‛a is near Najd) followed in Ramaḍān, [Page 6] and another led by Bashīr b. Sa‛d to al-Jināb followed in Shawwāl. The Prophet performed the ‛Umrat al-Qaḍiyya in Dhū l-Qa‛da. The raid of Ibn Abī l-‛Awjā’ al-Sulamī took place in Dhū l-Ḥijja.
In the year eight AH, Ghālib b. ‛Abdullah led an expedition to al-Kadayd (which lies behind Qudayd), in Ṣafar. The expedition led by Shujā‛ b. Wahb against Banū Āmir b. Mulawwaḥ, and that led by Ka‛b b. ‛Umayr al-Ghifārī at Dhāt Aṭlāḥ (which is in the direction of Shām about a night’s journey from al-Balqā’) followed in Rabī‛ al-Awwal. In the same year, Zayd b. Ḥāritha led an expedition to Mu’ta. Then ‛Amr b. al-‛Āṣ led one to Dhāt al-Salāsil in Jamādā l-Ākira and Abū ‛Ubayda b. al-Jarraḥ led another to al-Khabaṭ, in Rajab. In Sha‛bān, Abū Qatāda led an expedition to Khaḍira (which lies in the direction of Najd about twenty miles from the garden of Ibn ‛Āmir). In Ramaḍān, Abū Qatāda led an expedition against Iḍam. On the thirteenth of Ramaḍān, the Prophet marched to the Conquest of Mecca. Five nights before the end of Ramaḍān, al-‛Uzzā was destroyed by Khālid b. al-Walīd; Suwā‛ and Manāt were also destroyed in Ramaḍān by ‛Amr b. al-‛Āṣ and Sa‛d b. Zayd al-Ashhalī, respectively. Khālid b. al-Walīd led the raid against the Banū Jazima in Shawwāl while the Prophet marched to Ḥunayn and then to al-Ṭā’ if. Later, the people went on the Ḥajj pilgrimage. Some say that the Prophet appointed ‛Attāb b. Asīd over that pilgrimage; others, that the pilgrimage of the people was divided and without a leader.
In the year nine AH, the expedition led by [Page 7] ‛Uyayna b. Ḥiṣn against the Banū Tamīm took place in Muḥarram. The expedition led by Qutba b. ‛Āmir to Khath‛am followed in Ṣafar, and the march of the Banū Kilāb commanded by Daḥḥāk b. Sufyān followed in Rabī‛ al-Awwal. The expeditions led by ‛Alqama b. Mujazziz to Ḥabasha and ‛Alī to al-Fuls were in Rabī‛ al-Ākhir. The Prophet raided Tabūk, and Khālid b. al-Walīd attacked al-Ukaydir, in Rajab. The destruction of Dhū l-Kaffayn, the idol of ‛Amr b. Ḥumama al-Dawsī followed. The people, including Abū Bakr, performed the Ḥajj pilgrimage in the year nine AH.
In the year ten AH, the expedition led by Khālid b. al-Walīd to the Banū ‛Abd al-Madān, and the march of ‛Alī to Yemen took place in Rabī‛ al-Awwal. Some say there were two expeditions to Yemen, and that one of them was in Ramaḍān of the year ten. Then the Prophet went on pilgrimage with the people; when he returned from Mecca he was sick for ten nights. He dispatched Usāma b. Zayd during his sickness to al-Shām. When the Messenger of God died, Usāma did not return until Abū Bakr sent for him. The Prophet died on Monday, the twelfth of Rabī‛ al-Awwal in the year eleven AH.
The Prophet actively participated in twenty-seven raids. He fought in nine of them: Badr, Uḥud, al-Muraysī‛, al-Khandaq, Qurayẓa, Khaybar, the Conquest of Mecca, Ḥunayn and al-Ṭā’if. He directed forty-seven expeditions and performed three ‛Umras [pilgrimage to the Meccan Ka‛ba undertaken before or after the annual Ḥajj ritual]. Some say that he fought the Banū Naḍīr, but God made it a special booty for him. He also fought in the raid of Wādī al-Qurā on his return from Khaybar, when some of his companions were killed. Then he fought in al-Ghāba until Muḥriz b. Naḍla and six of the enemy were killed.
They said: The Messenger of God appointed several companions to take his place in Medina during his raids. During the raid of Waddān he appointed Sa‛d b. ‛Ubāda; during the raid of Buwāṭ, Sa‛d b. Mu‛ādh; during the search for Kurz b. Jābir al-Fihrī, Zayd b. Ḥāritha; during the raid of Dhū l-‛Ushayra, Abū Salama b. ‛Abd al-Asad [Page 8] al Makhzūmī; during the raid of the Battle of Badr and the raid of al-Sawīq, Abū Lubāba b. ‛Abd al-Mundhir al-‛Amrī. During the raid on al-Kudr, Ibn Umm Maktūm al-Ma‛ayṣī; during the raid of Dhū Amarr,‛Uthmān b. ‛Affān; during the raid of Buhrān, Ibn Umm Maktūm; during the raid of Uḥud, Ibn Umm Maktūm; during the raid of Ḥamrā al-Asad, Ibn Umm Maktūm; during the raid of the Banū Naḍīr, Ibn Umm Maktūm; during the raid of Badr al-Maw‛ id,‛Abdullah b. Rawāḥa; during the raid of Dhāt al-Riqā ‛,‛Uthmān b. ‛Affān; during the raid of Dūmat al-Jandal, Sibā‛b. Urfuṭa; during the raid of Muraysī‛, Zayd b. Ḥāritha; during the raid of al-Khandaq, Ibn Umm Maktūm; during the raid of the Banū Qurayẓa, Ibn Umm Maktūm; during the raid of the Banū Liḥyān, Ibn Umm Maktūm; during the raid of al-Ghāba, Ibn Umm Maktūm; during the raid of al-Ḥudaybiyya, Ibn Umm Maktūm; during the raid of Khaybar, Sibā‛b. ‛Urfuta al-Ghifārī; during the raid of ‛Umrat al-Qaḍ;īya, Abū Ruhm al-Ghifārī; during the raid of al-Fatḥ and Ḥunayn and al-Ṭā’if, Ibn Umm Maktūm; during the raid of Tabūk, Ibn Umm Maktūm—some said it was Muḥammad b. Maslama al-Ashhalī; during the Ḥajj of the Prophet, Ibn Umm Maktūm.
The code words of the Messenger of God during battle were: In Badr, “Yā Manṣūr, kill.” Some said that the battle cry of the Muhājirūn was “Banū Abd al-Raḥmān,” that of the Khazraj was “Banū ‛Abdullah;” and that of the Aws was “Banū Ubaydullah.” During Uḥud, the raid of the Banū Naḍīr and the raid of Muraysī‛ the codewords were “Kill, kill;” and during al-Khandaq: “Hā Mīm they will not be victorious!” During the raid on the Banū Qurayẓa and al-Ghāba, none was stated. During Ḥunayn the code was “Yā Manṣūr kill;” during al-Fatḥ the battle cry of the Muhājirūn was “Banū ‛Abd al-Raḥmān;” that of the Khazraj, “Banū ‛Abdullah;” and of the Aws, “Banū ‛Ubaydullah.” During Khaybar, the call of the Muhājirūn was “Banū ‛Abd al-Raḥmān,” that of the Khazraj, “Banū ‛Abdullah;” and that of the Aws, “Banū ‛Ubay-dullah.” During al-Ṭā’if there were no codewords used.
[Page 9] THE EXPEDITION (SARIYYA) OF ḤAMZA B. ‛ABD AL-MUṭṭALIB
The expedition of Ḥamza b. ‛Abd al-Muṭṭalib occurred in Ramaḍān, the seventh month AH.
They said: The Prophet granted the first banner, after he arrived in Medina, to Ḥamza b. ‛Abd al-Muṭṭalib. He sent him with thirty riders from two groups, fifteen from the Muhājirūn and fifteen from the Anṣār. Among the Muhājirūn were Abū ‛Ubāda b. Jarraḥ, Abū Ḥudhayfa b. ‛Utba b. Rabī ‛a, Sālim the mawlā of Abū Ḥudhayfa, ‛Āmir b. Rabī‛a, ‛Amr b. Surāqa, Zayd b. Ḥāritha, Kannāz b. Ḥuṣayn, his son Marthad b. Kannāz, Anasa the mawlā of the Prophet, and other men. From the Anṣār: Ubayy b. Ka‛b, ‛Umāra b. Ḥazm, ‛Ubāda b. al-Sāmit, ‛Ubayd b. Aws, Aws b. Khawlī, Abū Dujāna, al-Mundhir b. ‛Amr, Rāfi‛ b. Mālik, ‛Abdullāh b. ‛Amr b. Ḥarām, Qutba b. ‛Āmir b. Ḥadīda, as well as men who have not been named to us.
They reached Sīf al-Baḥr, and Ḥamza advanced towards the caravan of the Quraysh that was traveling from al-Shām towards Mecca. In it were Abū Jahl and three hundred riders from the people of Mecca. When they encountered each other and lined up for battle, Majdī b. ‛Amr, an ally of both parties, came between them and did not cease to negotiate between the two groups until the people turned away. Ḥamza turned back, returning to Medina with his companions, while Abū Jahl continued towards Mecca with his caravan and his companions. There was no fighting between them. [Page 10] When Ḥamza returned to the Prophet he informed him of how Majdī (b. ‛Amr) intervened between them, and that they had seen justice from him. When a group from Majdī arrived before the Prophet he clothed them and was good to them. Mentioning Majdī b. ‛Amr the Prophet said, “Indeed he has a winning disposition and finds a blessed result,” or “righteous deeds.”
‛Abd al-Raḥmān b. ‛Ayyāsh from ‛Abd al-Malik b. ‛Ubayd from Ibn al-Musayyib, and ‛Abd al-Raḥmān b. Sa‛īd b. Yarbū‛both related to me that the Messenger of God did not send anyone from the Anṣār until he himself raided at Badr because he thought that they would not support him except in their homeland (Medina). This tradition is confirmed.
THE EXPEDITION (SARIYYA) OF ‛UBAYDA B. AL-ḤĀRITH TO RĀBIGH
The Prophet gave the flag to ‛Ubayda b. al-Ḥārith, in Shawwāl, the eighth month AH, to march to Rābigh (Rābigh lies ten miles from Juḥfa in the direction of Qudayd).
‛Ubayda went out with sixty riders. He met Abū Sufyān b. Ḥarb at the water known as Aḥyā in the valley of Rābigh. Abū Sufyān was at that time with two hundred men. Sa‛d b. Abī Waqqāṣ was the first who aimed an arrow for Islam. He scattered his quiverfull before his companions, while his companions shielded him. He said: He aimed with what was in his quiver until he emptied it. There was not an arrow aimed except he injured someone with it. It was said: There were twenty arrows in the quiver, that they all injured either a man or an animal, and that there was no other arrow at that time. They did not draw swords nor stand in line for battle other than for this shooting and skirmish. Then each group turned back towards its garrison. Sa‛d b. Abī Waqqāṣ used to say concerning what Ibn Abī Sabra related to me from al-Muhājir b. Mismār, that there were, in all, sixty from the Quraysh. Sa‛d said: I said to ‛Ubayda, “If we follow them we will overpower them for surely they have turned away in fear.” [Page 11] But he didn’t agree with me, so we turned back towards Medina.
THE EXPEDITION OF SA‛D B. ABī WAQQĀṢ TO AL-KHARRĀR
The Prophet gave the flag to Sa‛d b. Abī Waqqāṣ to march to al-Kharrār (al-Kharrār is in Juḥfa near Khum) in Dhū l-Qa‛da, the ninth month AH. Abū Bakr b. Ismā‛īl b. Muḥammad related to me from his father, from ‛Āmir b. Sa‛d, from his father, who said: The Prophet said, “Go, O Sa‛d, until you reach al-Kharrār for surely a caravan of the Quraysh will pass by.” I left with twenty or twenty-one men on foot. We were hiding by day and traveling by night, until we arrived there on the morning of the fifth day, but we found that the caravan had passed by the day before. The Prophet had made me promise that I would not go beyond al-Kharrār and if not for that I would have surely followed.
It was said that the Prophet did not send anyone from the Anṣār until he raided with them at Badr. This was because they had promised that they would protect him in their land alone. ‛Abd al-Raḥmān b. ‛Ayyāsh al-Makhzūmī related this to me from ‛Abd al-Malik b. ‛Ubayd b. Sa‛īd b. Yarbū‛, from Sa‛īd b. al-Musayyib and ‛Abd al-Raḥmān b. Sa‛īd b. Yarbū‛.
THE RAID OF AL-ABWĀ’
The Prophet set out in the month of Ṣafar, eleven months after his emigration, [Page 12] until he reached al-Abwā’ and advanced to the caravan of the Quraysh. There was no fighting. In this raid he made an agreement with the Banū Ḍamra of Kināna that they would not increase forces or help any one against him. The Prophet wrote a document between them and himself and then returned. He was gone for fifteen nights.
THE RAID OF BUWĀṬ
The Prophet raided Buwāṭ (Buwāṭ lies opposite Ḍabba from the direction of Dhū Khushub)—between Buwāṭ and Medina are three postal stations—in Rabī‛ al-Awwal, the thirteenth month AH. He advanced to the caravan of the Quraysh that carried Umayya b. Khalaf, a hundred Quraysh and two thousand five hundred camels. Then he returned. There was no fighting.
THE RAID OF THE FIRST BADR
The Prophet marched in Rabī‛al-Awwal, the thirteenth month AH, seeking Kurz b. Jābir al-Fihrī who raided the pasturing cattle of Medina (that used to graze at al-Jammā’ and around the region), until he reached Badr. He did not reach Kurz.
THE RAID OF DHŪ L-‛USHAYRA...
